Maritime Park Update

For the past year, I have had a ring side seat for one of Pensacola’s most unusual projects, the Community Maritime Park. We all know the history: the initial Trillium plan proposal and its defeat, the new proposal and its ratification by the voters through a referendum, etc.

Like many, I had thought that the passage of the referendum took care of all of the issues, and we would soon see a park. Boy, was I wrong. I also have realized that we all have a different recollection of what we voted for in the referendum, a different dream of what those 30 acres of waterfront property will hold and how they will transform our city. There have been many drawings—sketches of the buildings, site plans—each shaping our vision. Now it is time to make our collective vision a reality.

In the last year I have been honored to be the city council’s representative on the Community Maritime Park Board. We’ve reviewed many contracts, considered many different site plans, and puzzled over financing. We’ve held a groundbreaking, but we haven’t seen much action.

This spring has been a turning point. We recently approved the design-build agreement with the developer, resolving many questions and thorny issues. Now bids are going out for significant construction projects, and we will start seeing some action. [If you are interested in providing services on this project, the bid notifications are posted at http://maritimepark.us/mp/bid-notifications.html.]

Last summer we were approached with an opportunity to jump-start construction through New Market Tax Credits. People involved in all aspects of this project have been working frantically to get up to speed on the credits and all of the regulatory nuances they entail. There have been wording changes in contracts, restructuring of the CMPA board, and many other changes necessary to take advantage of this money. As a result of these credits, an extra $12 million will be applied to the project, bringing many desired enhancements so that within the mandatory two year window the project will have many elements we all were expecting.

So, what should we expect? The contract for the park is broken into two pieces, the city funded part and the tax credit enhancements. The city portion is limited to $40 million. That money is broken into three components—the site work, the stadium, and professional costs.

The site work will use approximately $16 million. That includes lots of exciting elements like sanitary sewer and potable water, bulkheads, stormwater pipes, and earthwork (fill dirt). It also includes the more visible elements like roads and sidewalks, street lights, trees, benches, and landscaping.

The stadium, which is really more than just a baseball stadium, will cost $11 million to construct. The Pelicans will be a primary tenant, and they are working closely with the designers. The stadium will have 3200 seats, plus an additional 500 seats on terraces. There will be space for an additional 3000 seats on the field for a concert or similar performance. Underneath the seating there will be locker rooms, administrative offices, and spaces for two retailers.

The professional costs round out the bill. These are the engineering, permitting, legal, and developer fees, as well as the owners’ representative fee (they provide the oversight of the developer for the CMPA board) and the contingencies.

The New Market Tax Credits are expected to net about $12 million (we’ll know the final numbers at closing in the next week or so). That money will pay for some enhancements that you might be surprised weren’t in the original budget. A breakwater and marina. DeVilliers promenade (along the western waterfront). A public restroom in the south park. The amphitheater in the south park. Some stadium enhancements.

When will we see some action? The developer is soliciting bids on some of the elements now. And the new design-build contract requires the developer to be substantially complete by the end of December, 2011. There have been many delays, but now we have stringent deadlines.

Taken all together, this construction will create a great foundation for building a fabulous amenity for our community. Alone, it is not sufficient. Notice I didn’t mention a museum, restaurants, offices, stores. Those are not part of the city’s contribution to the project. UWF is still working toward the maritime museum. The Studer Group is working with the developer on coordinating the construction of their office building. The developer is working on luring restaurants and other private development to enliven the park. All of these elements are moving forward, and the development of some of the private parcels should occur in tandem with the rest of the project.

It has been a long, bumpy road, but we now see some light. I look forward to all components of the project moving forward rapidly so that at the grand opening in the end of 2011, we will have a wonderful project that will make downtown Pensacola a magnet for families, school kids, workers, and tourists and a catalyst for new jobs and investment in our community.

Bayfront to be open to pedestrians and bicyclists two Sundays in June

Update (5/26): The event will happen June 13 and June 27. Plan on coming down!

The Opportunity. Pensacola’s most unique asset is our waterfront, particularly the downtown waterfront. The more opportunities we have to enjoy it, the more we are reminded what a great place Pensacola is.

However, we rarely have real access to our waterfront. We can zoom past it on Bayfront or Scenic. We can go to a few parks. But most of our waterfront is cordoned off for the people who can afford to own water views. Opening Bayfront to pedestrians and cyclists will provide opportunities for us to enjoy our beautiful waterfront with the added benefit of bringing people from across our community together, encouraging them to exercise and meet their fellow Pensacolians.

The Action. The city council and staff have agreed to test the idea. We are now working out the details for two trial closures, to be held on Sundays in June. If these are successful, if people demonstrate that they want this type of recreational access to the downtown waterfront, the council will consider how to make these a regular occurrence.

The plan is to block off Bayfront Parkway from Tarragona/Barracks Street to Chase Street. People will have the opportunity to walk, bike, skateboard, or rollerblade on the road. This stretch also includes two large park areas, Veterans Park and Seville Square, which may encompass related activities. Once the dates are set, I plan to provide more information.

The Cost. Of course, everything has a cost. While staff has worked to develop a plan to minimize costs, money is necessary. Especially in tough financial times, we need to limit spending on anything that goes beyond the City’s core missions. That’s why I am seeking to underwrite this with private funding.

Success will be measured not only by the attendance but also by financial contributions. Our budgets are tight. If this is to become a regular activity, we will need to be able to count on the private sector support. While the city has the physical resources (the road, the barricades), we will need the private sector’s financial resources to implement and sustain this program.

I have spoken to many who are supportive of this idea. Some, who see the benefits of this program, whether drawing people downtown to their business, making Pensacola a more attractive community, or encouraging exercise, have offered sponsorships. If you know of businesses or individuals who would be willing to contribute financially, or if you yourself would, please let me know. The cost estimate is about $1000 per Sunday. Based on the responses I've heard so far, I am confident that there is lots of support for this program, and I hope that will translate into enough funds to cover the cost.

Whether or not you are able to contribute financially, I hope you will join us for this celebration of fitness, our waterfront, and our community.

Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan

Improving the bicycling and walking infrastructure is important to strengthening our urban fabric. Next week citizens will have an opportunity to voice their opinions on the priorities for walking and bicycling in our region. The West Florida Regional Planning Council is holding public workshops to discuss needs, priorities, and funding options for these amenities in the Long Range Transportation Plan. Workshops will be held:

Lillian, AL: Monday, April 19, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Lillian Community Club.

Pensacola, FL: Tuesday, April 20, 11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. Pensacola City Hall, 222 W. Main St. Hagler Mason Conference Room (2nd Floor)
4:30 - 7:00 p.m. Baptist Medical Park, 9400 University Pkwy, Azalea Room

Santa Rosa County, FL: Thursday, April 22, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Santa Rosa County
Auditorium
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. South Santa Rosa Service Center Conference Room

As you can see, these workshops will be held in a variety of venues, as befits a "regional" plan. However, it is important for us to emphasize the importance of bicycling and walking to the City of Pensacola. Amenities which fall under this are bike lanes, sidewalks, multi-use trails, and medians/pedestrian crossings. More information is available online. I hope to see you at one of these meetings.

By the way, if you like biking, check out Hayne St, which runs parallel to I-110. Public Works has recently re-striped the roadway to include a bike lane. Try it out some time.

Employee benefits sequel

Last year, the city council was very close to taking action on reforming city pensions and other benefits. We took some short term steps, like putting a hold on employee raises and longevity pay for the current fiscal year. However, we did not manage to take action on large scale reforms; instead opting to have a study of pay and benefits (the Mercer study).

Study results

The study came back. It showed that in most areas city employees receive similar ("competitive") benefits compared to the other survey respondents. [Note that the study included mostly other local governments and governmental agencies. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in 2008 total compensation, salary and benefits, for state and local workers was $39.25 an hour — $11.90 more than in private business.]

There were a number of areas where we were more generous ("highly competitive"):

• paying longevity (in essence a pay raise based on years worked)
  
• leave accrual
• spousal benefits for retirement
• and calculation of salary for pension (two year vs five year averaging).

Our benefits were poor ("non-competitive") compared to other survey participants in

• employee health insurance costs
• and the types of health insurance we offer.

Additionally, our salary ranges for most jobs compared poorly to the other respondents.

We knew going into the study the areas where we were "highly competitive"--I had urged changes in these areas last May. (For a discussion on these changes, see my May blog post. I had not included changes to longevity in that proposal, since the then-proposed FY2010 froze longevity.)

The Proposal

Now that the study is back, it is time to take action. On Tuesday (today), we will have a special committee meeting at 4 pm to respond to the city manager's proposal for reforming employee pay and benefits. The proposal, roughly is:

• no pay increases for FY 2011
• eliminating longevity
• capping leave accrual and paying out excess over two years
• change spousal benefits for new employees
• switch to five year averaging for calculating pensions
• strive to increase city's contribution to health insurance premiums.

This proposal is responsive to the study results.

Retirement and leave accrual
The proposals regarding retirement benefits and leave accrual largely mirror the suggestions I made last May. The main difference from my suggestion last year is making the spousal benefit change only apply to new employees, leaving current employees with the spousal benefits they anticipate.

Longevity freeze and salary range adjustment
In addition to the retirement and leave changes, the proposal includes abolishing longevity going forward, rather than freezing it. With that change, also, there would be a change in the maximum of all salary ranges by 10%. Currently, an employee's longevity pay is over and above the salary range for their job. This change will bring most of our pay ranges into line with other survey participants (though it will not have an effect on our current budget since it won't change the pay of individual employees).

Health insurance
The other addition to the proposal for discussion Tuesday beyond what was proposed last year is a response to health insurance. The proposal is to gradually increase the city's contribution to family health insurance from the current 55% toward the 72% average of the survey participants. While health insurance gets into some big political philosophy questions (hence the national debate), it is desirable to have insured employees for a variety of reasons. This is simply setting a goal, and we will annually need to work toward that goal when we renew our health insurance program.

Time for Action

As I've said before, it is hard to look at our hardworking, dedicated employees and say, "We can't give you what we want to give you, what we think your effort is worth, because the taxpayers can't afford it." On the other hand, I don't want to look at our taxpayers and say, "Sorry. Couldn't do it. We can't handle the hard decisions."

We are in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in history. Businesses throughout our community are laying off employees, forcing furloughs, or instituting pay cuts. Our citizens are facing double-digit unemployment. In better times, councils of the past have responded to the economic situation, sometimes raising salaries or benefits in order to attract qualified employees. This council, too, must be responsive to the economic situation, the challenges our local businesses and citizens are facing.

I am ready to act, and I hope that my fellow council members are ready, as well. We need your feedback on this issue so we know that we are making the right decision on this challenging issue. I know we will hear from the employees; I hope we will hear from other taxpayers as well.